the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually still alive

Tom Lehrer, 93.

I mean, I think I knew that he was still alive. I'm guess I'm just impressed he's still alive.

Chubby Checker is 80 today. Happy birthday to him. And here's a piece I wrote about the Twist a few years ago. https://t.co/NOoMVDIIsh

— Richard Williams (@rwilliams1947) October 3, 2021

Robert Wagner, 91.

Tony Soper, naturalist, TV presenter, and co-founder of the BBC's Natural History Unit, 92.

Biddy Baxter, feared overlord of the Blue Peter production team, 88

Maybe being called Biddy gave a misleading veneer of antiquity back in the day.

Tony Soper, naturalist, TV presenter, and co-founder of the BBC's Natural History Unit, 92.

When I read this name the face that I remembered was, it turns out, not Tony Soper but Tony Bilbow, who is also still alive at 89.

... that is Tony Bilbow, 70s TV film critic, kind of Barry Norman without the quips

It would be remiss not to mention that Glynis Johns is 98 today. Happy Birthday, Glynis Johns!

Joe Negri from Mister Rogers, 95.

Really unbelievable that Chubby Checker is still alive.

I find it hard not to categorise Chubby Checker with the early rock & rollers, though he was really a 60s artist - he's a year younger than John Lennon, for example.

Guess his name being a joke about Fats Domino makes me associate him with the earlier era.

Yeah I didn’t realize Chubby was only 18 when he dropped “The Twist”

Dan Hedaya. Only 81. I haven't seen him in anything since Mulholland Dr.

Dominic Chianese is 90

Lech Walesa, not even that old

Country Joe McDonald, 79, of "and the Fish" fame. Didn't think that he had died, but he just doesn't seem like he should be around in 2021.

I guess “Country Joe” always sounded a bit like an old guy rather than a 23-year-old.

Well, he's named after Stalin, an even older guy.

Funny to think that if Stalin was alive he’s only be 142.

That would really throw this thread for a loop

Clarence “Frogman” Henry, 84. In an interesting twist, he posted on this thread thirteen years ago.

Guess his name being a joke about Fats Domino ...

well blow me down.

Stalin's granddaughter lives in Portland OR

https://nypost.com/2016/03/17/stalin-granddaughter-is-an-all-american-badass/

If I met a gun-toting Buddhist in Portland and she told me Stalin was her grandfather I’d probably be sceptical.

You can totally see it here though.

https://i.imgur.com/vTMjzQc.jpg

Comedian Rich Little, 82.

Michael Caine, 88

I'm never surprised by Michael Caine, as he makes about three or four pictures each year. When Max Von Sydow stopped making three films a year, I knew something was up

Edgar Winter

Riff Raff

Caine in the Guardian today: ‘I’ve done 150 movies. I think that’s enough’

Is this Michael Caine retirement thing going to be like Leonard Cohen saying he was going to die, then saying he would live forever, then dying a couple of weeks later?

John Nott. One of numerous Tory ghouls who refuse to die.

Brazilian director Ruy Guerra, 90.

Jorge Luis Borges's wife, Maria Kodama. She has an Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariakodama/?hl=en

E. O. Wilson. I could have sworn that I’d heard that he’d died a few years ago!

Don Fardon. Not that he's that old so much that I'm not sure that he's been heard of since about 1969.

French actress, Micheline Presle, 99.

Sad to see Renée Simonot, Catherine Deneuve's mother, died in July this year... at the age of 109!

I’m going to say Stanley Baxter again - who first popped up on this thread 18 years ago, and gets a mention every few hundred posts - prompted by his (2016ish?) appearance on a Victor Lewis-Smith profile of Kenneth Williams which aired on Sky Arts the other day.

As long as we keep mentioning Stanley B, he’ll still be around.

Melvyn Hayes. I was amazed to hear him give a quote about Lionel Blair's death. Not a great quote, either.

Ah, there's video. For a moment there I was worried it was another "Benny Hill laments passing of 'great friend' Frankie Howerd" situation. Poor Ben wasn't in a position to be giving any quotes that day.

Ken Morse, of rostrum camera fame, only 77! Could swear he'd popped off yonks ago. Non-Brits, don't worry about it.

Roger Cook, investigative reporter. Again, he isn't that old but you just never see him or hear about him anymore.

Lucinda Lambton also. ‘Only ’ 78, but seems to have disappeared from her previously busy career as commentator on antiques , suburbs and architectural follies.

Monica Vitti - aged 90!

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/filmguide/images/0/0b/959DD869-FE59-4B02-950F-41A1E2993F5B.jpeg

not surprised he's alive, but I was recently surprised to find out Gene Hackman is 91.